The First Encounter
by Cronomon
Summary: Jushiro's first meeting with "Sogy-chan" and "Koto-chan". It didn't turn out quite as he'd expected it to.


The First Encounter

Jushiro Ukitake stared at the closed door in front of him, and exhaled deeply. He looked over his shoulder hesitantly, and saw Shunsui give him a wide smile and a thumbs-up. He smiled back, and turned back to the door. His smile faded. This was it. Beyond the door, in the dim room behind it, he would meet his zanpakuto. He hoped for a powerful fire-elemental one, just like his master and idol, Genryusai Yamamoto. He was skilled at the sword, and he knew it. He just hoped that his zanpakuto's Shikai stayed as a sword.

A firm hand squeezed his shoulder lightly, and the gruff voice of Yamamoto sounded. "Go on, Jushiro. The first encounter with your zanpakuto is something to treasure in your heart forever. I myself shall never forget the first time I met Ryujin Jakka."

Jushiro whirled around and stared in the wise face of his teacher. "Genryusai-sensei!" His eyes flickered briefly to Shunsui, who shrugged. Neither had had any idea that the founder of the very academy they were in right now would be coming.

"I just wanted to see how one of my best students was faring, although I would have expected you to have already entered the room." Yamamoto raised an eyebrow questioningly.

The white-haired boy lowered his head. "My apologies, Genryuusai-sensei. I'm just… a bit nervous."

His teacher let out a deep chuckle. "There is no need to be, Jushiro. Remember, your zanpakuto is the reflection of your own soul. It is the only living being that truly knows you. Your zanpakuto is your closest friend."

Jushiro looked into the kind face of his mentor, and felt a slight glimmer of confidence. He nodded, turned around, exhaled again, and opened the door. The room was startlingly dark- he had been told it was dim, but there seemed to be absolutely no light in there.

"Yeah! You go, Jushiro!" Shunsui cheered.

The sickly boy swallowed, lifted a hand in farewell without turning, and entered the room, taking care to close the door behind him. Now that the door was closed, he realized that there did seem to be an extremely low glow that came from the center of the room. Curious, he approached it, and found it to be a gem.

Realizing what he was supposed to do, he knelt down beside it, and reached out towards it, but right before he touched it, his hand froze. Jushiro silently cursed himself for his hesitation, and willed his fingers to stretch out and stroke the glowing gem, but they didn't move. Jushiro gulped and let out a shaky breath as he retracted his arm and rested his hand on his knee. He felt sweat form on his forehead, and he wiped it off with his forearm.

A childish shout of laughter sounded behind him, and he swiveled his head around, eyes wide. As far as he could see, which really wasn't saying much, there was nobody there, much less a young kid.

Shaking his head, Jushiro returned his gaze to the gem, staring at its beauty. He gritted his teeth, scorning himself for not being able to touch the stupid stone. "You want to meet your zanpakuto, don't you? So hurry up and do it!"

_Yeah, go on!_

_Do it! _

With a sharp gasp, Jushiro glanced around wildly. "Who's there?"

_No one. Just hurry up!_

_We can't wait to play._

Sweating madly, Jushiro leapt to his feet in alarm. "Seriously! There shouldn't be anyone else in here. Who are you?"

_Touch the stone and we'll tell you._

_We promise._

"_We_? There… there's two of you?" Jushiro backed away. The voices sounded childish, but there was no telling how powerful they were. How had they gotten into the room? He hadn't heard the door open. Were they somehow transparent?

_Of course there's two of us! I don't know what I would do without Koto-chan._

_And if I didn't have Sogy-chan, there's no telling what would happen!_

"Sogy-chan? Koto-chan?" Jushiro repeated shakily. To think he'd been excited for this day! If he got out of here alive, he knew he would definitely remember what had occurred in this room. His back hit the door, and he realized he'd reached the exit. Scrabbling madly, he whipped around and grabbed the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn to permit him access out of the room. Frantically, he began to pound the door. "Shunsui! Genryuusai-sensei! Help!"

_Hey, what're you so scared about, Juu-chan? _

_Yeah, we're not gonna hurt you._

"Who are you two? Show yourselves!" Jushiro ordered.

_We will once you touch the stone._

_Please hurry. I'm really getting tired of you thinking we're the bad guys._

_Plus, it's tiring having to talk to you like this. So could you pleeeaase touch the stone?_

_Pretty please?_

Jushiro didn't say a word. As his brain processed the possibilities of what this could mean, he suddenly collapsed onto the floor, coughing. He placed a hand over his mouth out of instinct, and when his coughing fit had died down, he realized there was blood on his hand.

_Juu-chan!_

_You okay, Juu-chan?_

Upon hearing the concerned note in their voices, Jushiro began to get the slightest feeling that perhaps they weren't really there to hurt him. "I'm fine." His voice was hoarse, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "No worries. I was born like that- it's natural."

A sigh of relief came from the two voices.

_That's good._

_We don't want you to get hurt, Juu-chan._

Jushiro smiled a bit, all feelings of fear gone from his body. He stood up and dusted himself off before addressing the two mysterious voices once more, "So you guys wanted me to touch that gem, right?"

_Right!_ The two spoke as one.

"Well, why not? You said that way I could finally see you guys, so I guess I should go for it." Jushiro decided. Besides, he reflected, he would've had to do it anyway.

_Yay! We did it, Sogy-chan!_

_Sure did, Koto-chan. We rock!_

With those words of obvious pleasure in his mind, Jushiro began to walk towards the stone with a new calm sensation. Once he'd reached it, he squatted down and reached towards it, brushing it gently with his fingers. He was instantly out cold, and his body slumped down unconsciously.

---

A bright light surrounded him, becoming almost too much for his eyes to bear. He blinked multiple times, shielding his face with his arm. When at last his eyes became adjusted to the sudden change of light, he looked around curiously. Everywhere it was a sort of yellowish color, tinged with white. He had just taken a step forward to explore this new place, when all of a sudden he tumbled down. He had no idea why he was tumbling down, as there seemed to be no "down" in this place, but he was falling. Finally, he landed with a giant splash, and realized he was underwater. Panicking, he struggled for air, before realizing there was no need for it. His eyes widened as he discovered that he could breathe in this strange underwater world.

"Where am I?" Jushiro murmured as he glanced around. He was aware that his clothes had not the smallest drop of water on them, and the only thing that served as a reminder that he was in water was the pleasant damp feeling that swirled around his skin. The scenery, he discovered, was lovely to look at and very charming. He was standing on soft sand, and around him there were beautiful reefs and shells. But other than those there was nothing else.

"Hello?" He called out. "Is anyone there?" He realized that this must be his inner world, and was slightly disappointed to figure out that he probably wasn't getting a fire-type zanpakuto. It would most likely be a water elemental. Shrugging it off, as he decided it wasn't very important since he was at least getting a zanpakuto, he continued to call out, waiting for his weapon to reply. Finally, after a moment's hesitation, he said softly, "Sogy-chan? Koto-chan? Are you two here?"

"JUU-CHAN!"

Almost immediately, two young boys appeared directly in front of him, grinning happily. They appeared to be twins, with the exact same large clothing and hats and blonde hair and even the same eyes. There was almost no telling the two apart. As soon as they saw him, the two let out yelps of delight and launched themselves at Jushiro, yelling out once again, "Juu-chan!"

The white-haired boy barely had time to react before he was barreled into by the pair and knocked to the ground. The twins looked at him happily, their bright blue eyes blinking.

"We're so glad you're here, Juu-chan." The one on the right said as his twin nodded. "We've been waiting _forever_."

"And we were really sad when you got scared of us earlier." The other one added with a bit of a dampened expression. Then his face burst into a smile again. "But that's okay, 'cause you decided to trust us and come here!"

Jushiro stared in amazement at the two boys. "Who are you two? And… could you please get off of me?"

The two boys bounced off obediently, and permitted Jushiro to sit up, but as he did he noticed the slightly disappointed expression they both had on. "What's wrong?"

"You don't know us?" One of them asked.

"Well, one of you is Sogy-chan, and the other is Koto-chan, right?" Jushiro guessed.

The other one nodded. "Right! But… you don't know who's who, do you?"

Jushiro shook his head. "I'm sorry. But I think some introductions are in order, aren't they?" He smiled kindly at the two. "I'm Jushiro Ukitake, as I'm sure you two already know. My deepest apologies for not being able to distinguish the two of you, but I'm sure after a few weeks I'll know you guys splendidly."

The twins smiled at his polite tone, and they both bowed at the same time before looking at him, their childish grins back on. One pointed at himself, "I'm Sogy-chan." He then pointed at his twin. "And that's my brother, Koto-chan."

Jushiro smiled. "Come on, you two. I'm sure you have proper names."

The two cocked their heads, each to a different side, and blinked in what seemed like confusion. "Well, not really," Koto-chan said.

"So you two honestly expect me to believe that your real names are Sogy and Koto?"

"No!" The two of them chorused. "If you're gonna say our names like that, you gotta say it right! You either end it with "chan" or you'll say it correctly."

The taller boy smiled sheepishly. "You're right, I'm sorry. Incase of future accidents, would you guys mind telling me how to say it correctly?"

The twins flashed a grin. "Sogyo no Kotowari! That's our name."

Jushiro blinked in realization. "Oh, I see." He squatted down in front of them, still smiling. He looked at the one on the left. "You're Sogyo," and then he looked at the one on the right, "And you're Kotowari. So together that makes… Sogyo no Kotowari. Hm, Truth of Pisces. Sogyo, are you honest?"

"It's Sogy-chan!" The boy insisted stubbornly. "And you're gonna call Koto-chan Koto-chan, 'kay?"

"Of course. I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment." Jushiro said. "Could you two forgive me?"

Almost immediately, the twin boys nodded. "Yup! We don't want you to get mad at us, Juu-chan, we don't want you to leave."

Jushiro sat down cross-legged, his face in pure shock. "Leave you? Why in the world would I leave you two?"

The two looked unhappy that he had brought this up.

"'Cause our last wielder left us. He said he didn't want two bratty kids as a zanpakuto, and he didn't accept us." Sogyo said in a quiet voice.

"We didn't know what we did wrong." Kotowari said, his voice suddenly shaky. "We just wanted someone to play with, and to love and protect. But… he left us, and he didn't even tell us why."

As if the memory was too painful to recall, Kotowari began to cry, which came as a shock to Jushiro. Only a minute ago the two had been laughing without a care in the world.

Sogyo looked at Jushiro in worry. "Juu-chan, you won't leave us, will you? I mean… I just don't want…" For a moment, Jushiro wondered if Sogyo was being selfish, but when the boy looked at his brother, Jushiro realized that Sogyo was the older twin, and thus felt a sort of protection to Kotowari.

"Well." Jushiro said loudly. His voice made Kotowari stop sniffling and look at him, and Sogyo glanced at him as well. "I don't know who would be stupid enough to not accept you two, but sure as hell I won't be that dumb." He smiled at the two of them. "Listen, you two. You're my zanpakuto, and from now on, my closest friends. Sure, we only met a few minutes ago, but I already know you two are very nice. I'll never leave you guys, I promise."

The twins stared at him for a long time in utter bewilderment, and after a while Jushiro began to get worried that his short speech had been lame. But quite suddenly, their grins were back on their faces, and they leapt at him again, wrapping him in a hug. Jushiro smiled and hugged them back.

Jushiro then decided he still had something to say to Sogyo. So he whispered in the boy's ear, "I know what it's like to be an older brother, and I respect you for looking out for Koto-chan. You're a good kid." And he could've sworn that the boy hugged him even tighter.

Finally, after what seemed like a good two minutes, the twins released him, and he placed them gently back on the sand. The twin were smiling, except this time it wasn't a playful grin. They beamed at him with the sort of respect a son would have to a father, or a younger brother to an older. And it made Jushiro feel good.

Feeling the temptation to say more to his new lifelong friends, he kneeled down and spoke again, "I love you two, never forget that."

The twins grinned and nodded back.

"We love you too, Juu-chan." Sogyo said.

"And we'll always protect you, no matter what." Kotowari added.

"The same to you two." Jushiro answered.

Sogyo smiled brightly at him. "If you ever need me… all you gotta do is ask me to defend you. I'll come up and do it right away!"

"And if you ever need me, just ask me to strike and I'll obey, quick as lightning!" Kotowari said.

Jushiro nodded, feeling a warm compassion for the twin boys. Sogyo, who would do anything to protect his brother. Kotowari, innocent and loyal. "I suppose it's time I get back to the world of the conscious. What will I see when I wake up?"

The boys let out a laugh of delight, as though the answer should have been painfully obvious. "You'll see us, Juu-chan. We'll always be with you."

To Jushiro's alarm, the twins were beginning to fade, but then he relaxed as he realized it was simply him waking up. "Yeah. I know."

---

Jushiro's eyes snapped open with startling speed. He lifted his head off the floor, breathing heavily. He glanced around, half expecting the boys to be there, laughing at him. Instead, he found a heavy object in his hand. Glancing over, he was not as surprised as he'd expected to be when he saw a sword in his hand. Slowly sitting up to his knees, he examined his zanpakuto. The only surprise he felt was that there was one sword, rather than two. Was this Sogyo or Kotowari?

Deciding he would probably find out later, he stood up and heavily walked over to the door, occasionally pausing to stretch. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this sore. When he finally reached the door, he sheathed his sword in the sheath that had arrived with his zanpakuto and placed a hand on the doorknob. Grunting softly, he opened the door, and was greeted by a loud cheer from Shunsui.

"Welcome back, Jushiro!" His friend said cheerfully. "So did you get it? Did you get your zanpakuto? You'd better have- we've been waiting for _hours_."

"Hours?" Jushiro blinked, stunned. His meeting with his zanpakuto seemed to have only taken ten minutes at most; how could it have been hours in the living world?

"Shunsui is exaggerating, of course, Jushiro." Yamamoto said. "We were only waiting for one hour."

"One hour?" Jushiro repeated. That was still longer than he'd expected.

"What, are you just gonna stand there all day repeating after us?" Shunsui gave a hearty pat on the back to Jushiro, who stumbled a bit at the sudden force. "Well, show us your zanpakuto, already. I can't wait to see it."

Jushiro blinked again, and then nodded slowly. "My zanpakuto… right."

"My zanpakuto… right." Shunsui mimicked. "What's wrong with you?"

"Patience, Shunsui." Yamamoto rumbled. "Jushiro is still getting used to being awake. I'm sure his meeting with his zanpakuto was very… spiritual, let's say."

"Spiritual." Shunsui rolled his eyes. "Whatever. So come on, Jushiro, let's see it."

The white-haired boy nodded, and slowly drew his sword. As he held it, gleaming proudly against the last few rays of the sun, he almost could've sworn he heard laughter somewhere.

He smiled slightly, looked at Yamamoto for permission, and then spoke the words that came to his mind even as he said them, "All waves rise now and become my shield, lightning strike now and become my blade." He paused, already feeling the power coursing through his body. "Sogyo no Kotowari."

Instantly, his sword began to glow and change shape, and instinctively his other hand shot forward and grabbed the twin blade his zanpakuto now sported. Sogyo no Kotowari was now two blades connected by a rope that had five plates dangling from it. The blades were curved inwards, towards Jushiro, which meant he would have to learn a whole new style of fighting. Glancing at his teacher and friend, he was surprised to see the look of amazement on Yamamoto's face.

"A duel zanpakuto…" Yamamoto said softly, "How… Jushiro, you are incredibly lucky. Duel zanpakuto are extremely rare. How in the world did you gain its alliance?"

Jushiro smiled at the sight that his teacher was lost for words. "Sogy-chan and Koto-chan were just lonely. All they needed was someone to love."

"Sogy-chan? Koto-chan?" Shunsui sounded like he wanted to burst out laughing.

"Yes," Jushiro replied. "They're twins, and they're last wielder deserted them. They were sad, and all I did was cheer them up."

He expected Shunsui to crack up, but his friend instead patted his back, gentler then the previous time. "Nice work, Jushiro. Of course you would get a child zanpakuto- you love little kids."

Jushiro looked back at his friend. "And I wouldn't be surprised if you got a busty lady as your zanpakuto."

"Oh, man, you really think so?" Shunsui almost immediately began to drool, and Jushiro laughed.

"Well, Jushiro. I expect you would want to go home and rest?" Yamamoto suggested. "I know that a spiritual meeting with your zanpakuto can be quite tiring."

It was only when his teacher said these words did Jushiro realize just how exhausted he was. He quickly sealed his zanpakuto and sheathed it again. "Yes, I suppose you're right, Genryuusai-sensei. Would you mind if I retired for the night?"

"By all means, go ahead." Yamamoto encouraged.

"Yeah, have a good rest, Jushiro." Shunsui agreed.

Jushiro bid farewell to his mentor and friend, and then proceeded his journey home. It wasn't a long walk, but by the time he reached his house he felt obliged to just collapse on the front porch and take a snooze right there. Instead, he forced himself to enter his bedroom, change into proper nightwear, make sure his zanpakuto was in a safe place right next to his bed, and only then did he permit himself to snuggle underneath the warm comforters. He closed his eyes, and almost instantly fell asleep.

_Good night, Juu-chan!_

_Sleep well, Juu-chan. You deserve it._


End file.
